{"meta":{"database":"Global Social Engineering Impact Database","license":"CC BY 4.0 — attribute to Netarx Social Engineering Incident Database","url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app/incidents/2025-ai-voice-clone-of-italy-s-defence-minister-used-to-extract-eur-1m-from-a"},"incident":{"title":"AI voice clone of Italy's defence minister used to extract EUR 1M from a businessman","date":"2025-02","date_precision":"month","victim_org":"Massimo Moratti and other Italian business leaders","sector":"Consumer","country":"Italy","primary_vector":"Voice Clone / Audio Deepfake","secondary_vectors":["Vishing (Voice Phishing)"],"ai_involvement":"Confirmed AI-enabled","ai_notes":"Fraudsters used an AI-generated clone of Defence Minister Guido Crosetto's voice on phone calls, alongside accomplices posing as ministry staff.","outcomes":["Wire Fraud / Financial Loss"],"loss_usd":1000000,"loss_note":"Approx EUR 1 million paid by Massimo Moratti in two transfers; funds were traced to a Dutch bank account and frozen","records_affected":null,"threat_actor":null,"summary":"In February 2025 fraudsters using an AI clone of Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto's voice contacted a series of prominent Italian business figures, reportedly including Giorgio Armani, Patrizio Bertelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera, Diego Della Valle and members of the Beretta and Aleotti families. The callers said the government urgently needed funds to ransom Italian journalists held in the Middle East and promised reimbursement by the Bank of Italy. Only former Inter Milan owner Massimo Moratti paid, transferring about EUR 1 million; Italian police later traced and froze the money in a Dutch account. Crosetto publicly disclosed the scheme.","how_it_worked":"The pretext was engineered for the target audience: a matter of national interest, secret by nature, in which wealthy patriots were being asked to advance funds the state would repay. Calls came first from someone presenting as a ministry official, which set the frame, and then from the minister himself in a recognisable synthetic voice, an escalation that made the request feel personally sanctioned at the highest level. The promise of Bank of Italy reimbursement reduced the perceived risk to a short-term loan. Secrecy and the lives of hostages supplied both urgency and a reason not to consult advisers, and payment was directed to a foreign account presented as an operational necessity.","lessons":"Government officials do not solicit private funds by phone; any such request should be verified with the ministry's published switchboard before any transfer, and banks should challenge large first-time international transfers from personal accounts.","confidence":"Reported","sources":[{"title":"Police recover EUR 1M sent to deepfake scammers impersonating Italy's Defense Minister","url":"https://cybernews.com/cybercrime/deepfake-scammers-dupe-italian-buinessman-1-million-police-recover-funds/","publisher":"Cybernews"},{"title":"Fraudsters Allegedly Use AI-Generated Voice of Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto to Scam Business Leaders","url":"https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/927/","publisher":"AI Incident Database"},{"title":"Guido Crosetto","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_Crosetto","publisher":"Wikipedia"}],"entry_type":"incident","slug":"2025-ai-voice-clone-of-italy-s-defence-minister-used-to-extract-eur-1m-from-a","year":2025,"loss_kind":"direct_loss","url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app/incidents/2025-ai-voice-clone-of-italy-s-defence-minister-used-to-extract-eur-1m-from-a"}}